Clemson Football Notebook

CLEMSON – After what was admittedly a lackluster Spring Game last year, Clemson football coach Tommy Bowden announced there will be changes for this Saturday's annual Orange-White Game.

"The Spring Game is going to be a lot more like a game," Bowden said after Wednesday's practice. "I'm going to divide the teams up now and have this team versus this team and make it a little more fan-friendly than it has in the past."

A year ago, with two new coordinators, Bowden was very cautious and played things close to the vest. The game wasn't what a lot of universities make out of it.

But Bowden makes no apologies.

"Last year, I really needed to use it as a 15th practice," he said. "Now that they've had another year, I thought I'd change it a little bit and make it a little more player-friendly and fan-friendly."

Bowden said he's also not sure whether a draft will be held to determine the teams. He will meet with his staff Thursday morning to iron out all the details, including whether or not there will be some kind of bet between the two sides.

"We might add one of those steaks versus beanie-weenie-type things," he said. "That's what they usually do."

Rain is in the forecast for Saturday, and provided there isn't any lightning, the game will be played.

Bowden said that with a mixture of players on each side, he said they will limit what they can do on both sides of the ball. But that doesn't mean there won't be a lot of action. In fact, he's counting on it.

"I'd like to see it be injury free and I'd like to see some guys make plays," Bowden said. "That's one thing I think you should be able to see … catches, hits, interceptions, tackles, sacks and things of that nature."

All in all, Bowden is happy with the way spring practice has gone, especially from an offensive standpoint, where new formations have been added.

"I think we got a lot done," he said. "I think we got about as much down as we possible could this spring. I'll have to see how productive it is next year when we play, I don't think there was too much more we could've gotten done."

Defense bounces back
Bowden was pleased with the way the defense played in the scrimmage Wednesday afternoon. And while their play wasn't perfect, it was still an upgrade from this past weekend.

"They sure didn't go out there and dominate," he said. "I think that's a little bit difficult to do. But they went out there and performed better than they did Saturday."

Injury updates
Backup center Barry Humphries participated in Wednesday's scrimmage. It was the first practice for the red-shirt freshman in two weeks.

Running back James Davis hurt his left foot after it was stepped on by fellow tailback Reggie Merriweather in a goal line drill. Davis said he thinks it's just a bruise.

Quick hits
Walk-on kicker Mark Buchholz made all four of his field goal attempts from 50, 50, 35 and 35 yards Wednesday. However, Bowden said Jad Dean missed nearly all of his attempts. …

As speculation had it, there was a fight in the Clemson locker room between a starting linebacker and a reserve offensive lineman. However, several sources said it was nothing serious and that the two players made up and everything is once again copasetic.